Adventures in Childcare
by Shipping Goddess
Summary: There's nothing unusual about Erin being asked to babysit her niece Sophie; nothing unusual that is, until a certain quirky engineer makes a surprise guest appearance and shakes things up in the Gilbert residence. Holtzbert soft fluff. (Several more chapters in progress.)
1. Chapter 1

"Aunt Erin! Someone's knocking on the door!" The five-year-old brunette's girlish voice called from the couch in Erin Gilbert's living room.

"Coming!" Erin called back from the kitchen. She wiped her hands on the nearby dish towel and quickly made her way toward the front door, wondering who it could be. She wasn't expecting any visitors and she wasn't on call for ghostbusting tonight. She didn't have to wait long to find out the answer. As soon as Erin opened the door, she found Jillian Holtzmann leaning casually against the railing on the porch, holding a large flat box in one hand and a heavier-looking, more cubic box in the other.

"Holtzy! Hi!" Erin greeted her favorite engineer with a quick, tight hug.

"Hello, Erin," Holtzmann smiled widely at the other woman, but her gaze was quickly drawn downward. Her grin stayed in place but her head cocked to the side and her eyebrows raised with curiosity. "Hello small human who looks suspiciously like Erin."

Erin followed her line of sight and saw that Sophie had followed her and was currently peeking at Holtzmann with wide eyes from behind the door. Erin laughed and explained, "Oh! This is my niece, Sophie."

The tiny brunette smiled at Holtzmann and repeated, "I'm Sophie."

Holtzmann set her boxes on the porch and held out a gloved hand toward the tot. "Pleasure to meet you, miss Sophie."

Sophie walked out from behind the door and stood as tall as she could. She accepted Holtzmann's hand and giggled when the blonde bowed dramatically.

"I like your hair," Sophie said.

"Thanks. I grew it myself," Holtzmann deadpanned, earning her another giggle from the girl.

"I like your glasses, too," the child added, pointing to where the old school lab goggles were perched on top of the woman's head like a headband.

"Yeah? Here, take a pair. I always have a spare." Holtzmann pulled an almost identical pair of her favorite brand of yellow-tinted lab goggles out of a pocket of her khaki cargo shorts and offered them to Sophie. The child's eyes widened in wonderment as if Holtzmann had magicked the accessory from thin air. Erin laughed. Of course Holtzmann carried spares; this was the same woman who was notorious for wearing gloves under her gloves and glasses under her goggles.

"What do you say, Sophie?" Erin asked her niece.

"Thank you, uh… What's your name?"

Erin visibly cringed at the tot's tactlessness. Holtzmann chuckled and replied, "Holtzmann. You can call me Holtzy if you want."

"That's a funny kind of name," Sophie remarked innocently.

"I'm a funny kind of lady," Holtzmann countered easily.

The tot nodded in agreement. "Thank you for the pretty glasses, Holtzmann."

"You're welcome, kiddo," the blonde replied as the child ran back into the house clutching her new prize, almost bowling Erin over as a result.

Erin recovered quickly and smiled warmly at Holtzmann. "You're kind of amazing, you know that? She's usually pretty shy around new people."

Holtzmann blushed at the compliment and grinned for a moment. "Yeah? She's a real cutie. Looks a lot like you." She winked at Erin, but then the corners of the engineer's smile turned downward nervously. "Hey, if you guys are doing the family thing I totally understand. I don't wanna intrude. I just thought maybe since we both had tonight off we could do a movie night or something but it can wait."

Holtzmann moved to pick up her boxes, as if she were preparing to leave, but Erin grabbed one of the blonde's wrists. "I don't want you to leave," she said earnestly. "If you're okay with Sophie being here, I'd really like you to stay."

Holtzmann shrugged her arm from Erin's loose grasp and wordlessly picked up her boxes. Erin immediately felt heat rising in her cheeks at the thought of Holtzmann leaving so quickly. Holtzmann stared directly into Erin's eyes, her expression unreadable.

"Okay," the engineer said. After several awkward moments of silence she added. "So, uh, can I come in?"


	2. Chapter 2

Holtzmann entered the Gilbert residence and expertly kicked her dirty black, half-laced combat boots off by the door without having to use either of her hands, which was a relief since they were full with the goodies she'd brought over. She walked into the kitchen and set the larger of the boxes on Erin's meticulously cleaned countertop. She wasn't sure what to do with the heavier box though, given present company, so she called out, "Hey, Er-bear?" Holtzmann heard a high pitched giggle from the next room over, followed by an echoed "Er-bear?" and more sniggering. Shortly afterward, Erin entered the kitchen with a slight scowl. Holtzmann cracked a smile at her expression.

"Yes?"

"Uh, what should I do with…" Holtzmann let the question trail off awkwardly as she indicated toward the box in her hand. "I mean, I didn't know there was gonna be a kid here or I wouldn't have but I, uh, brought some drinks…"

It took Erin a moment to catch what Holtzmann meant, but once she realized, she shrugged. "You can drink whatever you want as long as you don't let her try any," Erin laughed lightly. "And if you can find a space in the fridge, be my guest."

Holtzmann nodded and dutifully walked toward the aforementioned appliance. She opened the refrigerator door and was unsurprised to find it nearly spotless aside from a few clearly labelled plastic containers and some rather fresh-looking produce. She shrugged and sat the case of beer on the bottom shelf and pulled two out, before spinning a 360 on one foot and moon walking back over to Erin. Holtzmann used her forearm to screw the lid off one of the bottles and offered it to Erin. She nodded, impressed, and accepted the offered drink. Holtzmann repeated the motion with her own bottle and held it high in a mock toast. With her other hand, she threw both the lids toward the trash can in the corner of the room and fist pumped when they both made it in. Erin smiled and tapped her bottle against Holtzmann's.

"So what's the plans, my mans?" the eccentric engineer asked her counterpart after she'd taken a few swigs. Erin shrugged noncommittally.

"Usually we just do whatever Sophie feels like doing, which tends to involve copious amounts of makeup, sequins, and dresses," she offered, chuckling when Holtzmann visibly cringed.

"I see," was all the engineer offered. Then her eyes lit up and she set her drink heavily on the counter. She reached behind the brunette and snatched up the other box she'd brought. She carried it high above her head and dashed into the living room.

"Pray tell, madam Sophie, what is your opinion on pizza?" Holtzmann asked the tiny brunette who was currently sitting on the floor in front of the couch, watching TV through oversized yellow lenses.

Sophie snapped to attention at the mention of pizza and she shouted, "Yay! I looooove pizza!"

"Me too!" Holtzmann exclaimed, just as enthusiastically. It had taken Erin a moment to recover from Holtzmann's sudden departure but she arrived just in time to almost get bowled over once again as Sophie ran to the kitchen and climbed up into a chair at the island counter.

"Um, actually I just put the quinoa casserole in the oven right before you got here…" Erin mildly objected. She had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes when she saw both Holtzmann and Sophie stick their tongues out.

Sophie looked worriedly over at the blonde, who stage whispered, "Don't worry, I got this." Then she continued in an overly-loud voice, "Alright then, I'll just set this hot, delicious pizza right here on the table where we can all enjoy looking at it and inhaling its delectable aroma as we partake of your fine healthy cuisine." Holtzmann opened the box and exaggeratedly inhaled some of the steam coming from the box. Erin did roll her eyes now. Holtzmann continued, knowing she would soon give in. "And technically, this is health food too."

"Is that so?" Erin asked skeptically.

"Ah yes, the healthiest of pizzas, the veggie lover's!" Holtzmann waggled her eyebrows at Erin conspiratorially. Erin had to physically will herself not to smile. Sophie was intently watching the exchange between the women, knowing the fate of the pizza was at stake.

"Oh, fine," Erin conceded. "I can just reheat the casserole tomorrow night."

Holtzmann and Sophie cheered and high-fived.

Erin immediately realized this was going to be a very interesting night.


End file.
